Made in Nevada: Buying Local This Holiday Season

RENO, Nev. - Eleven years ago, a fateful day made the owners of Kimmie Candy decide to bring their business back to America.

"9/11 was when we decided to bring our manufacturing over from Korea," John Dutra, general manager for Kimmie Candy said.

Since then Kimmie Candy has taken off. They create unique candy coated chocolates that are perfect for stuffing stockings.

And if you feel like playing a joke on your kids this Christmas, you can stuff their stockings with coal- chocolate coal that is. Kimmie Candy is famous for their rock chocolates they created to mimic Nevada's history.

But more than just fun treats and stocking stuffers, when you buy from Kimmie Candy, you are helping out the economy.

"That's what we're all about, making stuff here in Nevada," Lynette Castillon, coordinator of Made in Nevada said.

Made in Nevada is a program designed to promote local businesses creating products here in Nevada.

"Part of the requirement is 51% of their finished product has to be made in Nevada," Castillo said.

The businesses supported by Made in Nevada range from candy makers to people creating unique homemade gifts.

Joanne Hill is one of the owner's of Hill's Handcrafted Soap. She started the business with her husband when friends and family wanted to buy the gifts they made as a hobby.

"As people picked the soap up, it just kind of took off," Hill said. "Friends and family throughout the United States would buy it and tell their friends about it, and they would tell their friends about it."

Hill's says she and her husband have been making the soap for 12 years, and they have come up with the perfect recipe to keep skin soft- even in the dry Nevada air.

Every time you buy something from local businesses like Kimmie Candy or Hill's Handcrafted Soap, that money stays in Nevada and helps us grow.

The National Retail Federation estimates Americans will spend more than $586 billion this year on gifts for their friends and families.

So the challenge this holiday season is to spend at least 60 dollars on a gift that's been made in America.

For a list of local businesses involved with Made in Nevada, visit www.madeinnevada.org.

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